


Learning the Sheikah Slate

by vv3stie



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Link (Legend of Zelda) Needs a Hug, Nightmares, Runes, Scientist!Zelda, Sheikah Slate, Slow Burn, Zelda (Legend of Zelda) Needs A Hug, eventual smooching
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:41:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 12,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28203294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vv3stie/pseuds/vv3stie
Summary: Link gives Zelda back the Sheikah slate, and helps her understand how to work the new runes.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 31





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work on AO3. It was originally meant to be a small, self-indulgent one shot, but kind of spiraled out of control. I hope you enjoy it.

“Do you really remember me?”

Did he? He remembered aspects of her. He remembered her yelling at him on numerous occasions, trying desperately to slip his watch, crying in his arms at the death of their friends. But did he really remember her?

He opened his mouth to speak. “I…” 

But Zelda was already drooping. Her eyes slipped shut and she fell to her knees on the charred grass of Hyrule field. 

Link was on his knees in front of her in an instant. “Princess Zelda?” he asked with concern. 

“I’m fine, just… so… tired…” she drawled. Her head fell forwards, and Link caught her, resting her head on his chest, just as he had the night of the calamity. 

He whistled for his horse, the beautiful white stallion gilded in the royal gear. Link helped Zelda to her feet and onto the horse, then climbed into the saddle behind her. She leaned heavily against his chest. He kicked the horse into a slow canter so as not to wake her and slowly made his way to Hateno village. 

~~~

Zelda slept for five days. 

The first day, Link woke her, and encouraged her down the stairs to eat a bowl of simple broth. She had fallen asleep at the table. 

The next day, he prodded her awake at noon, with more broth and a slice of bread on a tray. She ate slowly in bed, with tiny bites, and fell asleep with half the slice uneaten. 

On the third day, Link woke her three times: once in the morning, once at lunch, and once after the sun set. He insisted she eat at the table. She immediately returned to bed. 

The fourth day she awoke to a note on the nightstand, informing her that he had gone to rid the local forest of a bokoblin camp he hadn’t had a chance to take care of since the last blood moon, and if she wanted food, she was welcome to help herself to the food stores under the stairs. She contemplated that, then went back to sleep. 

On the final day, Link scooped her out of bed at noon and deposited her unceremoniously in the pond next to the house. She shivered in the cold water, and he left her alone with a bar of savory-smelling soap and a change of clothes. She washed quickly, and briefly considered washing the prayer dress as well. But the thought of preserving even a shred of her captivity revolted her. She would have Link burn it later. She instead dressed in the clothes he left her: a loose navy blue tunic and a pair of sturdy knee-length trousers. They were surprisingly easy to maneuver in. 

She returned to the house from her bath wringing the water from her hair and braiding it into a single plait down her back. Link was standing in the kitchen, dressing what looked to be some kind of large bird. He looked up when she walked in.

“Thank you,” she said, ducking her head in respect to Link. 

He returned the gesture. “I apologize if my behavior was untoward. You seemed unlikely to ever fully wake, your highness.” 

“I can imagine the stench of one hundred years was overwhelming. I apologize for polluting such a lovely home with my odor,” she said. 

He snorted and grabbed the tray of food on it and made his way to a small fire in the front of the house, where he dumped the entire thing into a cooking pot and placed it over the flames. He grabbed a ladle next to the pot and stirred the contents periodically. 

“Sir knight,” she began. “I am sor-“

“Link,” he interrupted. 

“What?”

“I’m not a knight, anymore. That would imply there was a sort of military in place. Most people just call me Link now.” He prodded the bird again with his ladle. 

“Oh…” She assumed what he said was true. She had watched the garrison in Akkala fall during the early days of her captivity with Ganon. She had known there wasn’t an active military. There was barely a kingdom for the military to serve. Her throat felt tight, and she swallowed several times to clear it before she could speak again. 

She changed the subject. “Is this your house?”

“Yeah. The town voted to tear it down, but I offered to buy it from Bolson. He helped me fix it up and even gave me some furniture for it.” She detected a note of pride in his voice as he said it. 

“It must have cost a fortune,” she said. 

“Just a few thousand rupees. Not too much.” He used the ladle to expertly flip the bird in the pot. “I had a lot of money lying around from people who give me odd jobs to do. I still had enough to decorate it, too.”

“That’s incredible, Link. Good for you.” He smiled at her.

“Are you feeling better yet?” He asked, patting the log next to him to indicate she should sit. She did. 

“More or less. At this point, I can’t tell if I’m physically exhausted, or if it is just the mental strain of being locked away for one hundred years.” 

“Or both. I remember when I first woke up, I could hardly walk without needing to rest every few minutes. I felt like I was one hundred years old.” He smirked at her. 

She laughed at his joke. “Hopefully my strength returns to me, soon.”

“It will.” 

They sat in silence for a while, Link periodically stirring the dinner. Finally, he turned to her. “This feels a little surreal, sitting here with you. It’s hard to believe it’s really over.”

“Yes,” she said, quietly. “So much has changed.” 

“But we did it.” He nudged her shoulder with his own.

“We really did.”

~~~

After a delicious meal of roasted bird and vegetables, Zelda began to wilt again. Link laughed, making a quip of how they could afford another house if she were paid to sleep. 

“I feel bad,” she said. “I’ve been taking what I can only assume is your bed.”

Link waved his hand. “I’ve been sleeping in the inn. The front desk girl owed me a favor, anyways. You’re welcome to use my bed for as long as you need it.”

He bid her good night, and left out the front door. She turned to face the empty room and sighed, the feeling of loneliness settling over her like a shroud. It was amazing how quickly she had adjusted to Link’s presence today. 

She jumped at an unexpected knock at the door. 

“Princess?” It was Link. 

She opened the door. “Yes?”

“I forgot to give this to you. I guess it’s technically yours, so you should have it now.” He proffered her the Sheikah slate. 

“Oh. Thank you, Link. I trust it served you well?”

“Definitely. Thank you for letting me borrow it. Good night, Your Highness.” She held the slate to her chest and watched as he bounded down the steps in front of the house in one leap and jogged to the bridge. 

She bolted the door behind him and made her way to bed.


	2. Chapter 2

Smoke filled her room, choking her. She tried to sit, to stand, to escape. Her body wouldn’t respond. Was she tied down? She couldn’t feel her heartbeat, though she imagined it was racing. The oppressive heat radiated around her. She was being smothered, choking on the blackness that surrounded her. She tried to thrash, to move, to shake it off. Trapped. The room around her continued to burn, and over the roar of the flames, she heard a low, menacing laugh. 

Zelda jerked awake, breathing hard. It took her a moment to orient herself to where she was. 

Link’s house. Hateno village. 

She took a shuttering breath in through her nose at let it out slowly through her mouth. 

It was just a dream. Just a dream. 

There was no chance she was getting back to sleep now, though. She glanced out the window. Stars twinkled at her from a cloudless sky. Link was likely still asleep. 

Groaning, she slumped back against the pillows and stared up at the ceiling. A faint light emanated from somewhere in the room, illuminating the boards that made up the roof. The Sheikah slate?

She grabbed it off of the nightstand where she had left it the night before and flipped it on. The light momentarily blinded her and she squinted her eyes, waiting for them to adjust. When they did, she realized she had opened the slate to a beautiful map of Hyrule. 

This was incredible! The maps made by the royal cartographers were children’s drawings compared to this. She could even see details such as trees and rock formations. Plastered over all of it were blue glowing landmarks. Shrines? She tapped the icon for the shrine in Hateno for more information.

The world dissolved around her. She was left floating, an oppressive weight compressing her chest, stealing her breath, and she was reminded of the dream that had awakened her. She began to panic, but as quickly as it had begun, it ended, and she was no longer lying in her bed. 

Cold night air buffeted her skin, raising goose flesh on her arms. Had she just teleported? Her panic was slowly replaced with excitement as she began to recognize her surroundings. She was standing on the platform of the Myahm Agana shrine, just a short walk from the bridge connecting Link’s house. She cringed at her mistake. 

She stumbled off the shrine platform, dizzy. Had her disconnection to the earth caused some kind of temporary illness? She bent over, hands on her knees until the earth stopped spinning. The cool air felt good on her damp skin. 

Stepping carefully with bare feet, she made her way back to the house. 

It was locked. 

Of course. She had teleported out of the locked house, wearing no shoes, at an obscene time of night. She shivered on the steps and wrapped her arms around herself to block out the cold. She was wearing nothing but a nightdress and the indecency of her situation heated her cheeks.

Resigned, she began to make her way to the inn. 

~~~

“Link?”

Link bolted upright, reaching for the Master Sword tucked under the blankets next to him. He brandished the sheathed weapon towards the door and waved it menacingly. Slowly, the fog of sleep dissipated from his mind and his eyes focused on the cowering princess in the doorframe. 

“Your highness?” He croaked, dropping his sword to the bed and swinging his legs to the side. “Is everything all right?”

“I’m sorry to wake you, but I am in a bit of a predicament. I seem to have locked myself out of your house.” 

His muddled mind tried to focus on her words. “You… locked yourself out of my house? What were you doing up at this time of night?”

She was quiet for a moment. Then finally she said, “I couldn’t sleep.”

He snorted and pushed himself out of bed. “That would be a first.” 

The princess blushed and turned away from him, and he realized he was wearing nothing but a pair of tight blue shorts. He scrambled to don his tunic and trousers. 

Trying to keep the embarrassment from his voice, he asked, “And how, exactly, did you lock yourself out of my house with no key?” 

“I think I teleported. I didn’t mean to. I was just examining the slate, and must have touched something, because all of a sudden the world disappeared and then I was standing on the shrine platform.” Despite the ridiculousness of the situation, she sounded ecstatic. He laughed. “This function of the slate didn’t exist before the calamity. I wonder if it was activated by use by the Sword’s chosen hero, or if it was merely a matter of time. I was surprised by the dizziness I felt, though.”

He pulled his boots out from under the bed and stepped into them, then crossed the room and plucked the slate from Zelda’s hands were she gripped it to her chest. She made a noise of protest, but relented as he manifested a pair of boots from his inventory and handed them back to her with the slate. She stared at the process slack-jawed. 

“It’s a good thing you only warped to the shrine here in town, then,” he said. Slate travel is more disorienting the greater the distance you warp. The first time I traveled across the continent, I got so sick I had to spend the day inside the shrine just to recover.”

“I just wanted to see if the icons displayed information about the surrounding areas.” She pulled on the boots. They were comically large on her feet. “I thought it best to start with the one I was most familiar with.”

“Good thing,” he repeated, and offered her his arm. She took it as they walked down the stairs of the inn, being respectful of the other sleeping guests. Her skin was cool on his. 

When they were outside, Zelda turned on him. “How did you do that?” She demanded. 

“Do what?” He asked, baffled. 

“Make boots appear. Does the slate produce all clothing, or is it just boots? Does it work by way of reverse teleportation? Is there a shoe store somewhere that is suddenly missing a pair of boots?”

“What? No! Princess, these are my boots! I store them in the slate using the inventory function.” He again stole the slate from her hands, and opened it to his inventory, then handed it back.

She went wide-eyed, and asked reverently, “What is the capacity of this?”  
Link shrugged. “As far as I know, it’s unlimited. I haven’t had an issue storing anything but cooked food. I’m not sure why that is my only limitation.”

He watched as she began excitedly tapping items on the screen. An apple, mushroom, durian, ancient spring and his rubber tights fell to the ground. He signed and stooped to pick them up, then gingerly removed the slate from her hands. 

“I’ll teach you more about this tomorrow, okay? But for now, let’s get back to the house so you can go back to sleep.” He was exhausted, too, as he was still trying to recover from the battle with calamity himself. He didn’t tell her, because he didn’t want her to worry about him unnecessarily while she was still recovering. The most physical thing he had done in the last week was exterminating that bokoblin camp, but he had mostly done that with remote bombs from a distance. 

“And I’m keeping this at nights, too.” He waved the slate. 

She made a noise of complaint, but nodded. He restocked the items into his inventory and offered his arm to her again. 

She shivered, and Link glanced at her, noting the bumps that rose on her arms. 

“Are you cold?” he asked.

“A bit.”

Hesitantly, he gingerly placed his arm around her shoulders, and rubbed her arm with his hand in an attempt to warm her up. She leaned into his side. 

They made their way back to his house, his arm comfortably around her shoulders. Her nearness made the rhythm of his heart beat quicker. She smelled of honey soap. 

Back at his house, he scrambled up the wall, pushed the bedroom window open, and unlocked the door for her. She stepped inside, rubbing her own arms for warmth, her teeth clacking uncontrollably. He ducked under the stairs and returned with a spare blanket, which he wrapped around her shoulders, then pulled her into a bear hug, rubbing her back to try to warm her. 

Her shivering eventually stopped, but for a moment, he just held her, reveling in knowing that he had saved her from the calamity, that it was over, and that she was here, alive, and somehow didn’t seem to hate him as she had before. Not wanting to cross any lines she was uncomfortable with, he eventually let her go. 

“Try to get back to sleep. We have a few more hours before the sun will rise.” 

She nodded. “Thank you for walking me back.”

“My pleasure.” He turned to leave, but stopped. “And Princess?” 

“Yes, Link?”

“Next time, there is a key in the bucket hanging in the stable.” With that he left, and made his way back to the inn, though he doubted he would be able to sleep for the rest of the night.


	3. Purah

The next morning, Zelda met Link at the inn. She was unable to get back to sleep the previous night, and had spent it periodically checking the sun’s position, and dusting every inch of his home. 

His face brightened when he spotted her waiting at the bottom of the stairs. 

“Good morning, Your Highness.” 

She held out her hand to him. He hesitated, staring at it, until she said, “Slate, please.” 

He laughed again. “How about some breakfast first?” 

“Fine,” she groused, but let him lead her across town to his home. She waited impatiently as he expertly mixed milk, eggs and flour together and poured the mixture over a heated stone. He flipped the crepe onto a plate, drizzled it with honey, and presented it to her with a flourish. 

“Thank you,” she said, taking the plate from his hands. She ate quickly as he made his own, then sat with an expression of overdone patience on her face, staring at him expectantly. 

He sighed and pulled the slate off his belt, casually tossing it to her across the table. “I was going to show you how each of the functions work today,” he said. 

“I would like that,” she responded. She had opened the slate to the map again, and peered at it with scrutiny. “How did you get such a complete map? None of the research of the slate at the castle even hinted it was capable of such art.”

“Do you know of the towers that appeared across Hyrule when I awoke?” 

She nodded. 

“I traveled to and activated each one, and some function of the tower scanned the surrounding area into the slate. I’m not sure the exact mechanism.”

“Fascinating,” she said in awe. “I would love to see one of these towers in person.”

“I would be happy to, though I’m not sure the slate is capable of transporting two people at once. I would need to ask Purah.”

The slate slipped from Zelda’s fingers and clattered to the table. “Purah still lives?” she asked reverently. Purah was still alive. Her failure had not killed all of her friends, it seemed. 

Link immediately realized his mistake. “Uh, yeah. Just up the hill, actually. At the Hateno Tech lab.” 

Zelda scrambled from the table and to the door. She barely knew where she was going, but Link was at her side, leading her across town, behind the inn, up a steep hill that overlooked the entirety of Hateno village. He lungs burned and her legs ached by the time they made it to the top, but there she stood, nervously reaching to knock. Purah would be ancient. Had her mind survived the test of time? Would she even remember Zelda?

The door swung open before her knuckles connected, and Zelda jerked her head down at the child standing before her. 

“Rude, rude, rude,” she was saying. “It’s been a week since the cloud around the castle disappeared, and he doesn’t even come to give me the good news personally.” She glared past Zelda at Link, tiny hands on tiny hips. 

Link ruefully rubbed the hair at the nape of his neck. “Sorry, Purah.” 

“And Zelly, you look so much like you did one hundred years ago. So beautiful. Come in! We have so much to catch up on!” The child grabbed Zelda’s still outstretched hand and dragged her into the building. Papers were strewn everywhere. A large guardian swung from the rafters, supported by a flimsy-looking rope. Link followed them in, cowed by another hostile glare from the girl. 

“Purah…?” Zelda asked, still stunned. 

“Yes, of course it’s me, silly!” She struck a pose. 

“You’ve… well, I would say you’ve aged, but the phrase isn’t exactly applicable to you, is it?” 

Purah giggled a high pitch giggle, and hugged Zelda around the waist. “Oh, Zelly, I’ve missed you so much!”

Link snuck out the door and shut it behind him.

~~~

Link returned to the tech lab when the sun was beginning to set. Purah and Zelda were sitting on the roof of the tech lab, under the shade of a giant umbrella, wrapped in layers of blankets against the cold, and holding something steaming in their hands. They appeared to be deep in conversation and neither of them noticed his approach. He slipped into the lab unnoticed. 

“Symin?” he called.

“Yes, Link?” Symin was standing in his customary corner, browsing through the various books on the shelf. 

“Do you have any knowledge of the warp capacity of the Sheikah slate? Is it able to warp more than one person at a time?” 

Symin contemplated that for a moment, eschewing a direct answer and instead turning to a disorganized stack of papers on the center table. “Hmm…” he mused as he read. “The director seems to have made a hypothesis on that, saying that upgrading the various runes could potentially have expanded the capacity. I suppose it would be safe.” 

Zelda and Purah chose that moment to enter, chatting animatedly. Link caught Zelda’s eye, and she grinned softly at him. 

“Linky!” Purah exclaimed, interrupting her deluge when she noticed him.

“Hey, Purah,” he said, “I just came to ask Symin if he knew if the slate was able to transport more than one person at a time.”

“Excellent question! There is no better way to know that than to test it out!” She raced to Link’s side, threw her arms around his hips and took the Sheikah slate in one hand. “For science!” she declared, and punched the glowing icon for the tech lab. 

The sensation of slate travel was familiar to Link and he expected it to be over quickly. The addition of another person seemed to slow the corporeal return slightly, but otherwise worked as expected. They reappeared on the travel gate in front of the tech lab. Zelda and Symin were standing on the doorstep. 

“It worked, it worked, it worked!” Purah said, animatedly, jumping up and down. The movement was made slightly more awkward by the way she kept her arms locked around Link’s waist. He grimaced slightly at Zelda, who smirked. 

“Yes, it did. That will make things much easier.” Link casually stepped out of Purah’s grasp. “Thank you.”

“You bring the princess back now, you hear? I went far too long without her, and I won’t be doing that again.” 

“Yes, Purah,” Link said, as Zelda bid her friend goodbye and stepped up to Link. 

He hesitated, his glance shifting from the slate to Zelda to Purah. Zelda moved to his side, and he awkwardly put his arm around her. Together they held the slate in one hand each, and Link tapped the icon for the Hateno Village shrine. 

Zelda swayed in his arms when they reformed. 

“You’re highness?” Link asked, concerned. “Are you well?”

She looked a little green. “I’m fine. That was just a longer jump than the one last night was. Wait a moment, please. It will pass.” 

Link kept her arm around her to steady her as she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. 

When she appeared to have regained her stability, Link led her to the house and bid her a good night.


	4. Cryonis

“I think we’ll start with the easiest of all the runes,” Link said. 

They stood in the front yard of his house. Link held the slate in front of him, flipping through the various pages, trying to decide what function to show her first. He decided on cryonis, as it was the least destructive and easiest to demonstrate. He engaged the rune and handed the slate to Zelda. 

“All you need to do is point this at a body of water and press the button.”

“What happens then?” She took the device from him and walked to the pond next to the stable. 

“Try it and see,” he stepped up next to her. 

She did, aiming into the center of the small pond and activating the device. With a crack, a pillar of ice rose into the air. Link jumped from the edge of the pond and scrambled up to sit on top of it. Zelda stared, mouth agape. 

“I don’t… what… how…” she stuttered. 

Link spread his hands in front of himself; fingers extended wide, palms forwards. “Magic,” he said with a mischievous grin. 

“Have you calculated the volume of this block? Is it the same size each time it manifests? Does it need a certain volume of seed water from which to grow, or will it grow from any amount?” She began to pace the perimeter of the pond. “Is it as cold as ice? As slick? How many are you able to produce? What is the density of the block? Can you make only a cube shape, or are you able to produce various shapes? How much weight can it support before sinking?”

Link, having considered none of these questions while using the slate, merely responded by shrugging his shoulders. 

Zelda placed her hands on her hips. “What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“I’ve just never thought about it before. It makes ice blocks in water and mud. But not in hot springs, strangely. And not in lava either. I’ve tried.”

“You’ve tried making ice… in lava?” She pinched the bridge of her nose in her hand and took a deep breath. “I’m going to need to set up some experiments. I need a measuring tape.”

For the rest of the day, Link became her pack mule, hauling buckets of water up the cliff from Firly Pond and pouring them into a large flat pallet with raised edges that Zelda designed and he assembled. It was lined with a waterproof sap to retain water. Over and over she manifested ice blocks, measuring the height and width of each one. She had Link boil water over the fire and slowly warm the pool until the ice blocks no longer grew. She had him throw dirt into the water until it was a thick paste, and then dump it out so she could start anew. Link told her how he had warded off Vah Ruta’s attacks of spikey ice balls by crushing them with the rune. She then spent the better part of an hour trying to get any shape but a cube to manifest. 

By the time the sun was setting, both of them were thoroughly soaked and shivering, and Zelda’s lips were turning faintly blue. Link belatedly began to wonder if manifesting giant ice blocks in the cool fall air was a wise idea. He borrowed the slate from Zelda as she changed, and pulled out his great flame blade. He slipped it under the mattress in the loft for it to warm the bed for her. 

She returned from changing and gave him a warm smile. “Thank you for today. It was wonderful. I never had a chance to run experiments like that in the castle, and today was the first time I’ve ever felt completely free.” 

Link smiled and took her hand in his, briefly pressing it to his lips and releasing it. “It was my pleasure.”


	5. Magnesis

When Zelda awoke the following morning, having slept warmer than she had in days, she found a barricade of objects in the front yard. Opened treasure chests, large metal crates, various weapons and… was that a bookshelf from the castle library?

“Link,” she said, putting her hands sternly on her hips. “What in the name of Hylia is this?”

He appeared from behind a crate with a flourish. “This,” he said, gesturing to the mess, “is practice!”

“Practice for patience? Because you are testing mine.” She had spent all night dreaming of new ways to test cryonis. She realized she hadn’t attempted to see how many blocks she could make manifest. She wanted to ask him to take her to Hateno beach so she could practice on a larger body of water than they had at Firly Pond. 

“No, Princess, practice for this.” He whipped the slate out in front of him and activated a rune. One of the nearby metal crates shifted and jumped, then rose into the air. She followed its ascent with her eyes, transfixed. Without warning, the crate fell, plummeting towards the ground where it exploded into bits of broken metal. Link scooped up a handful of rupees and arrows that were nestled in the remains. 

“Magnesis!” He offered the slate to her. 

She flipped on the rune, and all the various metal around her highlighted in red. “Do you see this red color, too?”

“Only if I’m holding the slate. I don’t know why. But it’s super handy for finding treasure chests underwater.” 

She selected one of the opened treasure chests with the rune and lifted it into the air. “We need to test this.”

She made Link go into town to find a set of metal balance weights so she could have reliable data for the experiments. Then she had him scale the chimney at the back of the house, making markings every few feet so she could measure the height the objects reached. Once that was done, she spent the afternoon progressively raising the objects against the gauge while Link made marks from his perch on the wall. By early evening, her neck and shoulders were aching from looking up and Link was complaining his hands were cramping. She surrendered the slate to him and set to rubbing her neck. Link entertained himself by dropping treasure chests into the large metal crates to break them. He made an apple pie for dinner from all the apples he found stashed in the crates. 

She sat by the campfire, warming herself with a cup of tea while Link cooked. 

“We’ve focused so much today on vertical distance. Will we get repeated numbers for horizontal distance? I figure we could test that easier, as it would put less of a strain on both our bodies. It doesn’t seem as if the weight of the object matters for the vertical distance. The marks you made seem to be generally at the same height. What could be the reason for the outliers? Maybe they were measured before the rune stabilized.” She rolled her head to stretch her neck and used a hand to massage her shoulder. 

Link noticed her movements and moved to stand behind her. To her delight, he placed his hands under the silk blonde of her hair and began to knead her tight muscles. She had to physically prevent herself from moaning. It felt amazing. 

“Do you still want to keep testing out cryonis and magnesis tomorrow? I was going to teach you stasis?”

“Stasis? What does that do?”

“It’s difficult to explain. It’s better to just show you.” His fingers moved from her shoulders to her neck and she leaned her head back to elongate the muscles. He smiled down at her from his position behind her, and she felt a strange fluttering sensation in her stomach. She quickly sat up straight and pulled away. 

“Thank you, that feels so much better.” He nodded and went to stir the hearty soup he was making. 

“As long as these metal objects aren’t needed elsewhere, I suppose we can save testing for another day. I would like to become familiar with all the runes.”

“I actually think the crates will be useful for stasis,” he said, rubbing his chin. “And we have all those extra sledgehammers from Bolson’s construction. I’m pretty well set up to demonstrate stasis.” He glanced at her. “But not tonight. You will have way more questions than we have daylight for right now.”

She grimaced. “I feel like I’m boring you,” she admitted. “You don’t care about the height and volume of a cryonis block, or how high magnesis moves a treasure chest.”

He sat on the bench to her right and put a hand on her knee. “Hey. I was there on the balcony when your father chastised you for not working hard enough to unlock your sealing power. I don’t remember a lot from Before, but I do remember watching your disappointment and anger at being barred studying the guardians. I remember feeling helpless, wishing I could tell him off for putting that expression on your face, but being unable to defy my sovereign. And then… you were different. Not determined, anymore. You lacked the drive to accomplish your unwanted tasks, knowing that there was no more reprieve for you in your studies. I promise you, Princess, that I will never put you in a position where you need to postpone your happiness for the sake of others. So measure all you want, it’s not boring. Not for me.” He squeezed her knee. 

She had to swallow the sudden lump in her throat. “I… thank you, Link. You have no idea how much that means to me.”

He smiled at her warmly, squeezed her knee again, and stood to dish the soup from the bowl.


	6. Stasis

“Unlike the other two runes, stasis requires more physical effort on your part.” Link was dressed today in a breathable cotton t-shirt and loose fitting cargo pants. His hair was pulled up into a high ponytail. He carried a heavy sledgehammer on his back. “Well… my part.” 

“I don’t understand.” 

“Like I said last night, it’s easier if I just show you.” He used magnesis to maneuver a treasure chest to the edge of the cliff next to the house. He passed the slate to her and hefted the hammer from his back. 

“Okay. Stasis it when you’re ready. You might want to take a few steps back for this.”

She took a generous step away, and aimed the slate at the treasure chest. Golden ethereal chains burst around the object. 

Link began wailing on the chest with his hammer. Zelda was surprised the chest did not move or topple off the cliff from the force. 

Link set the hammer on the ground and turned to grin foolishly at her. 

“What did you…?” She trailed off as the chest launched from the cliff and sailed across the plains. 

Her jaw dropped, and for once, she was speechless. 

“I told you it’s easier to show you,” Link said, cheerfully plucking the slate from her frozen hands and using magnesis to maneuver another chest to the cliff edge. He repeated the process, freezing the chest in golden chains. This time he spun in circles, whacking the chest with each revolution. He stopped and stood, swaying slightly on his feet as the chest launched similar to the first one. 

Zelda exploded. “It stores kinetic energy as potential energy! Oh, there are a million uses for this! What is the farthest distance you can move an object? Is there any correlation between size and distance? How do you measure your exact force? Does it work only on metal objects? Will a smaller amount of force applied still move the object an exponential distance, or is it linear? Oh, Link! Why did you not start with this one?!” 

“Sorry…” he mumbled, but she didn’t hear, already running back to the house. 

“Springs,” she muttered. “I need springs. Springs and some kind of rail system. Link, do you have scales? I need a hammer.” She whirled around the house, collecting objects as she went: the broom and mop from under the stairs, a few ancient springs from the desk in the loft, several ancient screws. 

Link watched her excitement as she began to assemble some kind of spring loaded contraption. She secured the broom and mop together at the top and bottom with a spare piece of wood from the firewood stack under the stairs, and made a stand to lift it off the ground. Then she rigged a system in the frame using screws and springs that could be pulled back under tension and released. She sent him outside during the assembly to collect as many stones as he could, and set him to weighing each on a scale and labeling them. Finally, she hauled the entire contraption outside and did several tests where she hoisted the spring back and let it go to smack into some of the lighter stones. Once she knew the vectors and velocity of the spring, she began to stasis the stone in the contraption, sending them careening across the yard. She repeated each stone three times with only one blow of the spring-loaded contraption, making records in a notebook for each one. 

“Distance and mass seem to be correlated…” she murmured, scribbling frantically. Link hauled the stone from the latest experiment and reset it in the launch frame. “The lighter stones travel a longer distance with the same amount of force.” 

“Are you sure you’re not hungry, princess?” Link asked, sitting on the ground next to the stone she was perched on. 

“I still haven’t tried multiple hits on the stones…” She scribbled more on her paper. It looked like numbers and arrows. Link made a face. 

“Princess?”

“Maybe there is a distance at which it caps out, regardless of mass or velocity…” She chewed on the back of the pencil she was using to scribble. Link imagined it didn’t taste very pleasant, and for a wild moment, he wondered idly what she would do if he replaced the pencil with his lips. He shook his head to dispel the image. 

“You’re trying to eat your pencil, your highness. Maybe we should stop for dinner.”

“I need to figure out a way to increase the velocity of the hammer. Maybe more springs…”

“Zelda,” Link reached up and caught her hand in his. She jerked, as if noticing him for the first time. 

“Oh, Link, perfect timing! I need to repeat the experiments on stone one. I’m not sure the device was calibrated correctly in those tests.” She stood and turned to the contraption. 

“Princess, you haven’t eaten all day. Perhaps it’s time for a break.” 

She looked at him, then at her notebook, at the apparatus, then back to him. He smiled. “Are you not hungry?”

“I suppose I could eat,” she hedged. 

“But…?” 

“But we’re losing daylight, and I want to finish the first round of trials today. I was going to ask you if you would be willing to take me to somewhere large and flat tomorrow, so I could test distance and angle. Perhaps Hyrule field would be suitable. I feel like I’m on the verge of understanding the formulas the slate uses, I just need to figure out how. Maybe Purah could offer some insight on the slate’s ability to project. She surely has had enough…” Link cut her off with a finger over her lips. 

He shushed her sound of protest as he slipped the notebook from her hands and replaced it with a roll of bread. 

“Eat. Please. We have all the time in the world to do trials. There’s no rush to get this done. You need to take care of yourself.” 

She nodded mutely at him and he removed his finger from her lips. He nodded in approval and turned to the pot to begin dinner.


	7. The Compendium

Link was a liar, as they, in fact, did not have all the time in the world. 

Zelda frowned out the window at the pouring rain that soaked her experiment outside. How had she not noticed the change in weather yesterday? Now she would have to wait until it let up to get accurate readings. The vectors would be different if she was working with more downward force than just gravity.

She grumbled down the stairs to begin breakfast. 

Shortly after, Link waltzed through the door, cheerful as a summer’s day. “Good morning,” he sing-songed. 

She grumbled again and ordered him to remove his boots, lest he track mud and water into the house. 

“So what is on the docket today? Are we making a trek to Hyrule field? I was thinking that Blatchery Plains might be closer, and they offer just as much uninterrupted field space. As long as you don’t mind the guardians.”

He was far too chipper for the situation, and Zelda had a suspicion that he knew her plans had been foiled, and was just teasing her now. She grumbled again.

“I have a backup plan,” Link said, tossing the slate to her. “It doesn’t involve going outside unless you want it to.” 

She perked up and opened the slate. She was greeted by a screen of empty boxes. 

She cocked her head. “What’s this?”

“The compendium,” he seated himself at the table and threw his feet onto it, leaning precariously back in his chair. 

“I don’t understand. It’s empty.” When she placed him in the Shrine of Resurrection, the compendium had been full. All of Hyrule captured and catalogued in the slate. It was a matter of pride to her, a secret rebellion against her father. The memory must have been wiped during its long dormancy in the shrine. 

“Not completely. I did my best to take pictures when there was a weapon I had never seen before or a monster I didn’t recognize.” 

Indeed, when she flipped the page, it was almost completely full of swords and bows, most of which look as if they had been laid out on the floor of the very house they now occupied. 

“Why?” she demanded. “Why did you not do a better job of filling it while you traveled?”

“Didn’t see a reason to. I got a picture of some sun shrooms in there for you. Symin needed a picture of them. But I was a bit busy training myself to rescue this princess stuck in a mortal battle for the good of all Hyrule.” She caught a mischievous glint in his eyes. He was definitely teasing her. 

She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure the princess would have been just fine if you had spent a few days taking pictures of wildlife and plants.” 

“Nope. She was in dire need of saving. Trust me.” He winked at her. He actually winked at her. 

A blush rose unbidden to her cheeks. What was wrong with her? She turned her back to him to prevent any further embarrassment. 

“So how do we fill this up without leaving the house, then?” 

“Easy. Just pull stuff out of the slate, take a picture, and put it back. It shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“You’re saying you have all the available entries for the compendium conveniently stored in this thing?”

“Well… maybe not all of them. Some we might have to do a bit of traveling for, but we can wait until the rain stops. We need to get you used to shrine travel, anyways.” 

Her stomach turned at the thought. 

“I would prefer we not use slate travel, unless absolutely necessary.”

“Fine by me. I hate being wet.” 

So for the next hour, Zelda pulled items out of the slate’s storage, snapped a picture, and put it back in. She realized that doing them individually was more time-consuming and eventually, she began manifesting things in groups of five. 

She realized that was a mistake when she accidentally manifested a hightail lizard in a batch with a hotfoot frog. The frog’s croak had startled the lizard, which skittered off the table and under the stairs. The lizard’s movement, in turn, startled the frog, which jumped directly at Zelda. She squealed and dropped the slate as Link dove for the lizard under the stairs. He came up victoriously holding a squirming lizard in his hand. Zelda came up covered in pond slime. 

Link appraised her. “That’s a good look for you, Princess.”

She grumbled, snapping a photo of the wriggling lizard in his still outstretched hand. The image focused on Link’s entertained eyes. 

She stared at the picture for far too long before moving on. 

She was careful to manifest only one live animal at a time.


	8. Dueling Peaks Stable

The next week was a mixture of scientific experiments involving the runes and various short expeditions around Hateno to capture images for the compendium. 

The day after the rain, Link had shown her the function of the remote bombs. She found them significantly less exciting than the other three runes, as there was no discernable physics they exploited, save for the fact that they seemed endless in supply. 

She hypothesized that it was only one bomb that was perpetually stored and manifested similar to the storage function of the slate. She tested this by carefully carving a small mark into the casing of the square bomb. Link vibrated with anxiety the entire time, ready to pull her out of the way or throw himself on the bomb should it accidentally detonate. She waved him off and threw the bomb off the side of the cliff into Firly pond. She detonated it and summoned it again. The mark remained carved into the side. She proudly showed it to Link who nodded, then gingerly took the bomb from her and threw it off the cliff again. He paraglided down to the lake and collected the floating fish for dinner. 

Her nightmares were neither worsening nor improving. They remained consistent and always seemed to wake her around the same time every morning, gasping and choking on smoke that wasn’t really there. Zelda could tell Link knew something was off, but she didn’t care to share. Her memories of her century-long battle with Ganon were hers to bear as recompense for her failure to save her friends. 

She awoke one morning after a particularly nasty dream and sat up straight in bed. Groggy, she realized that she was actually sitting higher on one side of the bed than the other. She knelt and lifted the mattress to find one of Link’s massive blades stored underneath. At first she dismissed it as merely just one of his quirks until she felt the heat pouring off the blade. No wonder she had been so warm at night, lately! She definitely knew that it had been placed recently and was not merely a remnant of Link’s nights here, as she remembered several nights in the bed shivering too hard to relax. Tears sprang to her eyes at his thoughtfulness. 

She met him at the inn the next morning with a platter of freshly baked cinnamon rolls in thanks. He eyed her suspiciously, probably estimating the amount of time she had spent preparing them, but ate them gratefully.   
“Are we doing experiments, or exploring today?” he asked, once his plate was cleared. 

“Actually,” she began, “I was thinking maybe we could take more of an extended trip this time. It’s been weeks since we defeated the Calamity, and I have yet to meet with Impa. Would it be imprudent to plan a trip to Kakariko? How long of a journey is that? I don’t want to be caught in a snow storm.”

Link considered. “On foot, it’s about a two day walk to Kakariko. It’s not bad at all. We don’t even need to camp because the Dueling Peaks stable is a good halfway point between the two cities. There’s some really pretty scenery I think you would enjoy.” 

It was set, then. They spent the day preparing, packing clothing and making meals to store in the slate. Zelda was endlessly entertained, since Link’s choice of “trail foods” seemed to be honey candy and wild berry pie. 

“How do you eat a pie while traveling? It would just make a huge mess.”

“Not if you eat it all at once.”

They started out on their journey the next morning. Zelda locked up the house and met Link at the inn. He was dressed in casual trousers and a red cotton shirt, with sturdy boots and a cape with a hood. She had chosen to wear similar trousers and boots, with a blue traveling cloak and gloves against the chill, all newly purchased in town with Link’s money. 

He gave her an appraising look and nodded, apparently deeming her clothes suitable for traveling. Without a word, he tossed her the slate and together they began the long walk to Dueling Peaks. 

About halfway there, by her estimate, Link said, “Ooh, watch this! Bring the slate!” then disappeared into a patch of tall grass just off the road. He crouched down and silently walked forwards, drawing the sword strapped across his back. He held it low for a moment, eyes shut, and then spun to a stand with a “Hiyah!” The grass in a wide circle around him was cut short. A restless cricket hopped away to find new cover, but Zelda quickly snapped a picture. 

“Manny made me find ten of those for Prima,” he said. “I spent hours searching through the grass before I realized I could do that.” 

“Why did Prima want ten crickets?” Zelda wrinkled her nose. 

Link shrugged and loped down the hill to her. “He’s sweet on her. I think he thought it would impress her.”

“Ew. If you ever want to impress me, I much prefer flowers to bugs. Or sweets to bugs. Or literally anything to bugs. Maybe even a nice rock!”

“Duly noted,” he said. He seriously sounded like he was considering it. Zelda rolled her eyes. 

They arrived at the Dueling Peaks stable, just as the sun was setting. A man behind the desk greeted him warmly and Link introduced him as Tasseren, the stable owner. 

After arranging for two beds for the night, Link explained to Zelda, “Tasseren was one of the first people I talked to after I left the Great Plateau. The old man told me to seek out Impa, and I was so exhausted, I practically collapsed asking for a bed for the night. I slept for three nights, but he only charged me for one. Something about me ‘not leaving the bed’ and ‘it was only one night for you’,” he held up two fingers on each hand as he spoke, as if quoting him. “He’s a good man. I always try to pay him just a little extra each time I come through here to make up for that, but he never lets me. So I ‘accidentally’ leave rupees under the bed.”

“I knew it!” Tasseren growled from across the tent. Zelda giggled. 

Just then, a man with an enormous backpack trudged in to the tent and plopped back against the support post. Zelda stared at him, and amusingly realized his backpack resembled a large beetle. 

Link grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Come here, I want to introduce you to Beedle.” 

Zelda started, wondering if Link had somehow read her mind. She belatedly grasped that the man’s name was Beedle. He sure knew how to stick with a theme. 

“Hey, Beedle!” Link called, pulling Zelda across the tent to stand in front of him. 

“Hey there! Glad to see you here! Who’s this pretty lady?” 

“This is Zelda. We’re traveling together to Kakariko.” Not princess, not her highness. Simply, Zelda. She appreciated him not introducing her as royalty. She wasn’t sure she was ready to resume that role yet. 

“The pleasure is all mine, Beedle,” she moved to extend her hand to shake his, but realized it was still entwined with Link’s. Her heart skipped a beat. He must have realized the same thing, because he let it go as if she had electrocuted him. She eyed him as she shook hands with Beedle. Did his cheeks seem redder than normal?

“What do you have for me today, Beedle?” Link asked when Zelda was done. Her eyes grew wide as he pulled out a variety of bugs, food, and arrows. Link exchanged rupees for all the arrows Beedle had. Then Link was pulling various gemstones out of the Sheikah slate. He sold off all the sapphires, rubies, topaz and luminous stones he had. He only had four diamonds, and initially he pulled them all out, then hesitated, his hand outstretched. He glanced furtively at Zelda, then pocketed one of the diamonds and sold the other three to Beedle. She cocked her head, but said nothing. 

They thanked Beedle and made their way to the cooking pot outside, where Link reheated some meat skewers. They ate in comfortable silence until Link finished and pulled out the pie. 

“Link!” Zelda exclaimed. “We can’t eat that here!”

“Why not?” He continued to heat the pie tin over the fire, carefully rotating it with the soup ladle. 

She sputtered, “Because… because…” but she actually couldn’t think of a good enough reason, and, truthfully, she really wanted some pie. 

He smirked, and pulled out two forks. They voraciously devoured the pie, occasionally chasing the other’s fork away with their own, laughing. Zelda didn’t realize how close they had migrated together until she looked up at Link’s face, just inches from her own. He had some wild berry juice on his cheek. 

“You have some…” she mimed wiping her own cheek. 

Link scrubbed his fingers on the opposite cheek and checked his hand. 

“No. Here…” Zelda licked her thumb and reached up to wipe the juice off. Link stiffened under her touch, his eyes fluttering shut. Zelda held her breath. 

More slowly than necessary, she wiped her thumb across his cheek. Her heart beat unsteadily in her chest, and she feared her hand would shake. 

“See?” She whispered, holding her thumb up in front of his face. 

He opened his eyes and, very slowly, leaned forward and licked the juice from her thumb. His eyes met hers, and her heart stopped. She dropped her hand and slowly, ever so slowly, leaned closer. 

A loud clang and whinny made her start, spoiling the moment. They both glanced at Rensa, who had dropped a pail while feeding the horses. “Sorry!” he called. 

They jumped apart, as if suddenly realizing the impropriety of their proximity. 

Awkwardly, they cleaned up their dinner remnants and went to bed.


	9. Kakariko Bridge

The stable was on fire. Thick, oppressive purple smoke filled the air. Zelda couldn’t breathe. She was tied to the bed. Some one had tied her to the bed! She could hear laughter across the tent, deep and rumbling. The sound chilled her while the fire burned her. She thrashed, trying to break free of the ropes that held her down, trying to flee the laughter that was all too familiar. It was too hot, too hot, too hot. 

“Zelda,” the voice was cool. And it wasn’t the familiar voice from her dream. She stilled. 

“Wake up, Zelda, you’re dreaming.” A cold hand grasped her own. The temperature felt nice. She gasped and opened her eyes, coming fully awake all at once. 

“Link,” she breathed. Then began to cry. Hot tears welled in her eyes and fell down into her hair. She covered her face with the hand that Link wasn’t holding. 

He stroked her hair. “Hey, it’s okay. It was just a dream.” 

“I’m not crying because of the dream,” she moaned. “I’m crying because I’m embarrassed.”

“Why are you embarrassed?” 

“Because I was hoping I wouldn’t have a nightmare while we were in a public setting. Because I didn’t want you to know!” She pulled her hand from Link’s and used it to cover the other half of her face, turning from him, ashamed. 

“Do you have nightmares a lot?” he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper for courtesy to the other sleeping guests. 

She nodded, and curled in on herself, pulling the blankets over her head. 

There was a shuffling, then the bed dipped, springs squeaking as Link curled up behind her, over the blankets, and threw an arm around her, hugging her close. “Me, too,” he breathed. 

She hiccupped, but made no move to pull away. He tugged the sheets from over her head and replaced his arm across her waist. 

“Is this okay?” he asked.

She nodded again. 

“Go back to sleep, Princess,” he murmured into her ear. 

His warmth was not the same oppressive heat from her dream, and she more comfortable on this squeaky, spring ridden, well-used mattress than she had ever been at home. For the first time since her rescue, she was able to fall asleep after a nightmare. 

~~~

Link was already up when she awoke, and she could hear him arguing with Tasseren. 

“No, I paid for two beds. You keep the money.”

“You only used one bed. You only need to pay for one.”

“I still dirtied the sheets on the other. Consider it a cleaning fee.”

She blushed, remembering the night before, and realized that the other patrons of the stable would have seen Link in her bed. She prayed to the Goddess that they didn’t assume any more than he was simply comforting her. She knew her nightmares weren’t quiet. 

It seemed that Tasseren was more amenable to calling it a ‘cleaning fee’ than a rental fee, since the argument ended shortly after that. She rose and began to ready for the day, pulling on the same clothes as the day before. Link had left her the Sheikah slate, for which she was grateful, and she manifested a hairbrush and expertly braided her tangled hair down her back. 

Link looked up from the fire when she finally exited the tent, and his cheeks went pink. 

She refused to let this be awkward for them. “Thank you,” she said, sitting by his side. 

“For?”

“For last night. Minus the nightmare, that’s the best night’s sleep I’ve had since you rescued me.”

He searched her face. “Me, too.” 

She searched his in return, memories of their time by the campfire last night coming to mind. She took a deep breath and changed the subject. 

“So…” she began. “You have nightmares, too?” 

“Yeah,” he admitted, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. “Almost every night. They usually wake me up and I can’t fall back asleep.”

“Do you want to tell me what they are about?” She rested her hand on his knee. 

“Mostly Ganon. Our final fight. A lot of times I lose, and you die. Or I lose, and you stay trapped in the castle. Or Ganon kidnaps you, and I can’t find you.” He took a deep breath. “Mostly, it’s just bad stuff happening to you that I can’t prevent.”

She nodded in sympathy. 

“What about yours?” he asked. 

“Fire. It’s always the same. I’m trapped in a room that’s on fire and I can’t move or escape. There’s always someone laughing at me. I feel so helpless.” She shuddered. 

Surprisingly, Link pulled her into a crushing hug. “One day,” he said, “It will be a distant memory. One day, we’ll be able to move on. But for now, all we can do is work through it together.” 

Tears welled in her eyes again, and all she could manage was “mmhmm” and a nod. 

He held her for a timeless moment, until her tears dried, and her heart stilled. When he let her go, he gave her a smile. 

“We need to eat if we’re going to make it to Kakariko by nightfall,” he said. She agreed with him, and handed him the slate. He manifested two plates of honey apple crepes and warmed them over the fire. They ate in a comfortable silence, shoulders together. 

When they finished, they bid goodbye to Tasseren and the people of the stable and started north to Kakariko. Link reached out and hesitantly grabbed her hand. It startled her, but it felt natural after their conversation this morning. She squeezed his in return and he gave her a smile. 

Link stopped her on Kakariko Bridge and pointed to the korok swinging from a leaf over a circle of rocks in the river. 

“They have puzzles like that hidden all over Hyrule,” he explained. “I had to throw a boulder in the center of that circle to get him to appear. It’s a lot more difficult than it looks.”

She squatted on the edge of the bridge and waved to the korok, who giggled and squeaked “tee hee!” at her. 

A loud pop sounded behind her, followed by a throaty laugh and the sound of Link drawing his sword. She stood and spun, and found herself face to face with a skinny man dressed all in red, wearing a mask with the inverted eye of the Sheikah on it. Confused, she glanced at Link and found him dueling a large creature with a long, pointed nose and a wicked horn protruding from its head. 

She didn’t have time for her heart begin to race as the man in red disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared floating in the air several feet off and above the bridge. He aimed a bow directly at her chest and loosed. 

The impact came, and a searing pain spread through her shoulder. She watched, detached from her body as Link ducked a swing of the creature’s club, sheathed his sword and pulled out his bow in the same motion. In the moment that the creature was rearing back to strike him again, Link loosed an arrow at the man hanging in the air. The arrow struck true, and the man disappeared again in a cloud of smoke and… playing cards? The creature, momentarily confused by his foe’s disappearance, instead focused on Zelda, who took a reactive step back. 

Her foot found no purchase, and suddenly she was falling from the bridge. The impact into the icy water forced the air from her lungs. She was under water, being carried by the swift moving current. She tried to struggle to the surface, but the pain in her shoulder made her involuntarily suck in a breath. But there was no air. It was only water. She coughed, and struggled and realized she had no idea which way was up. She was going to die. She frantically kicked her legs, but her vision was darkening around the edges. Her last thought before all went dark was of Link.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may not be a writer, but I am CPR certified. Everything in this chapter is accurate, to my knowledge.

Link turned from his shot just in time to see Zelda disappear over the edge of the bridge. 

“No!” he cried, dropping his bow and spinning to dive off the bridge after her. 

An unexpected blow from the moblin’s club caught him across the chest and he grunted, sprawling onto his back. The moblin reared to kick him, but Link rolled to his feet and drew his sword. He sliced the creature across the ribs then sheathed his sword and threw himself from the bridge. He probably hadn’t killed the moblin, but his only thought was for Zelda. 

He surfaced and took a deep breath, ribs aching. Frantically he treaded water, searching in all directions for her. He let the current pull him along as he floated, and a flash of blue caught his attention: her cloak, floating in the water. 

Desperately, he swam towards the cloak and realized with a sick feeling she was floating under it, face down. He reached her still form and removed the slate from her hip. Balancing trying to keep her head above water and opening the map, he managed to punch a glowing icon and the world melted.   
They reformed on top of a tower. Link tossed the slate aside and gently laid Zelda’s still form on the platform. An arrow stuck from her shoulder, but the wound didn’t look deep, and wasn’t bleeding too badly. She wasn’t breathing, and her skin had a faint blue shade to it. 

Link was unexpectedly taken in a memory. 

It was the year before he drew the Master Sword, two years before the calamity. He had gone to spend some time with Mipha in Zora’s Domain. They were walking, arm in arm, around the pools where the present-day Zora slept. Hylians and Zora alike laughed together as they splashed in the pool. Link watched as one boy, a Hylian, snuck behind another pretty Hylian and dunked her head under the surface. She came up sputtering and turned around to smack the boy in the chest, giggling. 

They continued on their walk, content to enjoy the moment. Link had been spending less time with Mipha lately, due to the increased patrols his squad was required to go on, and the pressure from his father to increase his training. He had been given a weekend reprieve, and had opted to spend the time in the Domain. Mipha was exultant. 

A wail and fair amount of splashing drew his attention. He had his hand on his sword hilt and used his other hand to push Mipha’s body behind his own, shielding her from potential danger. The source of the shout had been from behind him, in the pools they had just left. A Zora man with blue fins was pulling what appeared to be an unconscious Hylian from one of the pools. The wailing was coming from the pretty Hylian he had noted earlier. 

“Cota, what happened?” the Zora man demanded of the weeping woman.

“He kept trying to scare me,” she explained, the words garbled by tears. “He went underwater to try to grab my ankles, but I lost track of him. I couldn’t see him and he… and he…” She let out a sob and covered her face with her hands. 

The Zora was already assessing the man. Link watched with curiosity and worry as he placed the unresponsive Hylian on the ground and tipped his head back, putting his ear close to the man’s face, and placing his hand at the man’s neck. 

“What is he doing?” Link whispered to Mipha, who had moved to stand next to Link, watching in concern. 

“He’s feeling for a heartbeat,” she responded. “We, the Zora, I mean, have a way of preventing death by drowning in Hylians. It’s not very useful for our kind, having gills and such, but we’ve discovered certain procedures we can do to revive those who breathe the air.” He noted a sense of pride in her voice. 

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Link asked, moving towards the gathering crowd.

Mipha tugged his arm to keep him in place. “Jovom knows what he is doing. It’s best if we stay out of his way.” 

Another Zora woman grabbed the now hysterical Cota, and was demanding the gathering crowd move back from scene.

Jovom now had his hands on the Hylian’s chest and was doing the strangest rocking movement, almost as if he was trying to crush his chest.

Link again moved forwards, this time with the intention to stop Jovom from hurting the man. Mipha tightened her grip on his arm and hissed, “Compressing the chest forces air to the rest of the body. It’s not comfortable, and can be dangerous if done on a conscious person. But it’s essential for someone who is not breathing on his own. Watch as he breathes air into his mouth for him.” 

Indeed, the Zora stopped the compressions and appeared to be kissing the man on the lips, though holding his nose shut with his hand. Link watched carefully, and thought he could make out a slight rise of the man’s chest, before Jovom replaced his hands and continued with the chest compressions. 

The crowd watched in terrified silence for several rounds of compressions and breaths before, finally, the man coughed, dumping a lungful of water onto the platform. Cota fell limp with relief and the crowd cheered. 

Link turned to Mipha. “Teach me.”

~~~

Link was abruptly in two places at once. He could see Mipha standing over his shoulder as he knelt by a straw dummy, overlapped with his present view kneeling next to Zelda’s unconscious form. 

Mipha’s voice sounded in his ear, an echo from a long forgotten past. “You must never attempt this on a conscious person. The first step is to try to wake the victim. Shout their name, and try to wake them.”

He did so, nearly growling Zelda’s name as he tapped her cheeks. “Zelda, can you hear me? Wake up! Breathe, Zelda, breathe!” 

No response. 

The memory continued to play out in his mind, overlapped with the real world. 

“If they are unresponsive,” Mipha continued, “tip their head back and give two breaths by pinching the nose closed and breathing into their mouth.”

Link complied, tipping Zelda’s head back, pinching her nose closed with his left hand and sealing his lips over hers. A small voice in the back of his mind that seemed disjointed from the present situation noted that he was kissing Zelda. How many times in the past two months had he imagined his mouth on hers, moving their lips together, and her body pressed to his? This was a cruel imitation of that fantasy now.

He forced air into her lungs, watching from the corner of his eye as her chest rose and fell, rose and fell. 

He remembered this training with Mipha, who had laughed at his silly attempt to revive a straw training dummy. 

He put his ear against Zelda’s mouth and watched her chest for signs she had started breathing on her own. Nothing. Her body lay unmoving as if she were already dead. 

“No!” Link cried. Mipha’s voice in his head directed him to begin compressions if there was no breathing. He did so, placing one palm on the back of the other hand and setting them both to Zelda’s sternum. He shifted on his knees so his weight was centered in his hands and allowed gravity to assist in his ministrations. 

“You must compress the chest deeply and quickly,” Mipha instructed in his mind, his hands on a straw torso. “If you do not compress hard enough, this will be ineffective, as there won’t be enough pressure to move the air through the body. This may crack ribs, but you must keep going!”

As if on cue, Link heard a snap from Zelda’s body. His hands hesitated only a moment before he resumed compressions, letting out a sob. When had he started crying? 

27… 28… 29… 30. Link remembered what to do next. He dropped his mouth to Zelda’s and breathed for her again. He could taste his tears on her lips. Two breaths. Her chest rose and fell lifelessly. 

With a frustrated cry, he began again, each compression punctuated by a word. “You. Will. Not. Die. Here!” He had not been asleep for 100 years, and defeated the calamity just for her to die to a Moblin attack. Zelda’s body jerked under the pressure of his hands.

Another snap, another rib. Another sob ripped from his throat. Another two breaths forced into a lifeless body. 

More compressions. His own chest was aching from the hit of the Moblin club he had taken. He was beginning to hyperventilate from sobbing. Suddenly, Zelda’s body surged under his hands, violently retching water. Link quickly turned her onto her uninjured side, his hysteric sobs turning into sobs of joy, as her body forcefully expelled the remaining water from her lungs and created a small puddle on the platform of the tower. He was shocked to see just how much water she had inhaled.

When her body had stilled, she sagged to the ground unconscious, but, thankfully, still breathing. With aching arms and trembling hands, Link retrieved the Sheikah slate from where it had fallen, pulled Zelda’s inert form into his arms and warped them to Hateno.


	11. Chapter 11

When Zelda awoke, her shoulder hurt. 

No, her shoulder didn’t hurt. Her chest hurt. Every breath she took seemed to scrape the edges of her throat and burn her lungs. She coughed in response, but that only introduced a mind-numbing pain, as if she were being stabbed in two separate places on her chest. She gasped and wrapped her arms around her torso, as if she could hold herself together. Gasping was a bad idea. She held her breath.

“Hey, hey, hey,” a soft voice said from her side, and gentle hands tried to pry her arms from where they were wrapped around her ribs. “Be careful, your highness, I haven’t had a chance to tape those up yet.”

Zelda blinked back the darkness that had begun to creep into her vision. “Link?” she rasped, the word feeling as if it were sand paper as she forced it from her throat. 

“I’m here,” he said, fully entering her field of view. He perched on the very edge of the bed, as if trying not to disturb the mattress, his hands lightly gripping her wrists. On the blanket next to him was a roll of bandage, gauze, and what appeared to be some sort healing elixir, judging by the bottle. 

“What… where am I?” 

“We’re in Hateno,” he explained. “I figured, knowing you, that you wouldn’t want an audience to your… recovery.” He hesitated on the last word. 

“What happened?” Speaking was agony. She resolved to use as few words as possible.

“We were attacked crossing Kakariko Bridge,” he frowned. “Moblins and Yiga, working together. You were struck by an arrow and fell off the bridge. I couldn’t get to you fast enough and you breathed in a lot of water. I…” He trailed off, closing his eyes and turning his face from her. “I was almost too late. I almost failed again.” The pain in his voice surprised her. “I almost lost you.”

She reached out with her good arm and placed a hand on his back to console him, but the movement disturbed her ribs, causing her to gasp, which caused her to cringe and move to wrap her arms around herself again, which elicited another gasp and cringe. 

Okay, no speaking, no moving. Everything hurt. 

The gasp made Link turn back towards her, sympathy and pain on his face. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I think I may have broken some of your ribs. I was just about to tape them up when you awoke.” 

“Broke… ribs…?” She rasped through the pain. 

Link rubbed the back of his neck and looked away again. “It’s an old Zora technique. I made Mipha teach it to me before the calamity. I thought it might be useful someday.” 

Careful not to jostle her ribs more than necessary, Zelda reached forwards and placed her hand on the one Link had still resting on the bed. He turned his head back and his eyes met hers. 

“Thank you,” she whispered, returning his gaze. 

He was silent for a moment, and then nodded. He held her stare for ten heartbeats more, then swallowed and looked down at the roll of gauze and bandages. “Do you want me to tape up your ribs? There’s not much I can do to prevent them from moving, but it might help a bit. I already bandaged your shoulder.” 

She nodded, shifting so she was sitting up a little higher in the bed. 

“I’ll need you to, um… lift up your shirt a bit, so I can tape you,” he said awkwardly. 

She did so, pulling the bottom hem of her shirt up to expose her bare ribs. She noted that she was no longer wearing the traveling clothes she had been when she fell into the river and was instead wearing a loose fitting nightgown. 

Link must have noticed her confused stare, because he supplied “I didn’t want you to get hyperthermia on top of nearly drowning. Don’t worry I didn’t see anything. It was dark, and I put it on over your clothes, and…”

“It’s okay,” she interrupted, holding still as he carefully applied an adhesive bandage to her skin, wincing as he pulled a tender rib. Her heart hammered in her chest at his nearness. Was she imaging how his hands hovered over her bare skin? 

He nodded, and finished applying tape to the other side. “I was able to clean the wound on your shoulder, and applying a hearty elixir mostly healed the cut. I think the arrow just scraped the skin and didn’t pierce the muscle, so you shouldn’t have any lasting damage or limited movement. But you should really keep resting. Here, drink this.” He proffered the bottle of healing elixir still resting on the mattress. 

“What is it?” She took it gingerly from his hands. 

“It’s a sleeping tonic, infused with hearty radish and herbs for pain. It will help to speed your recovery.” He took the bottle back and uncorked it for her, then pressed it to her hand again. 

She lifted it to her lips and swallowed. It tasted bitter and sticky. Immediately she felt the effects take place. Her eyelids drooped shut.

“Sleep well, princess. I’ll watch over you until you wake.” The last thing she remembered was the vague sensation of his lips on her forehead.


End file.
